According to Lucinda Marshall at Truthout, young children and babies in utero are at a major risk of chemical poisoning after oil spills because their immune systems are not fully developed, leaving them incapacitated to fight off dangerous compounds. While the National Institutes of Health have provided information on the way endocrine disrupters – common in both the oil and the substances used to clean it up – scientists aren’t clear on the effects of the chemicals, in part because until very recently, they had no idea which chemicals were being disseminated.

Now, without first telling Nalco Holding Co., the manufacturer of the dispersants that BP is using, the Environmental Protection Agency has released a list of ingredients used to break down the oil. And – shocker – the news isn’t pretty. One of the ingredients, 2-butoxyethanol, caused major health problems among cleanup workers on the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. That, plus the oil itself, could spell major risks to pregnant women and their fetuses.

According to Dr. Gina Solomon, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, “Some of the volatile chemicals in oil have been linked to miscarriage, preterm birth, and low birth weight, so it is a good idea for pregnant women to avoid the areas where there are elevated levels of VOCs [Volatile Organic Compounds] in the air. These are areas that include noticeable smells of oil or visible oil and also any areas where the EPA monitoring system detects elevated levels. The EPA air monitoring results are being updated regularly at www.epa.gov/bpspill. To be cautious, pregnant women may choose to avoid any areas directly along the waterfront and beachfront, even when oil is not visible.”

That’s easy enough advice to follow for would-be Gulf Coast vacationers (as if there are any this season). But for pregnant women living near the spill zone – where oil and dispersants reenter the atmosphere after being burned off the water – avoiding chemical exposure is akin to turning a blind eye to the disaster itself.

Image: Hello Turkey Toe

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Forgive the cliché, but every day is Earth Day around EcoSalon. We’re still getting a lot out of April 22nd, though. It’s not just benefit concerts and vegan Iron Chefs!

There’s a bevy of activity online around Earth Day, though the movement started 40 years ago when the predecessor to the world wide web, Arpanet, was just a twinkle in Steve Wozniak’s eye.

We rounded up a dozen of the best Earth Day petitions, quizzes, games and guides to help even the most ecologically-minded among us figure out how to do more to protect and restore the planet.

Quiz

Take this 10-question quiz about climate change, and the Clinton Foundation will donate $2 towards a program delivering solar-powered flashlights to people living in camps in Haiti.

For Kids

Are you a Mary Poppins in the making? PBSKids.org offers some Earth Day content to help you teach your kids, nieces, nephews or just brats you babysit. Their “Eeeko World” is full of kid-appropriate games and cartoons – just be prepared for animated monkeys and silly voices.

Activism

Act.ly asks web citizens to “Tweet change.” We like the initiatives focused around human health and the environment, including one demanding that mobile manufacturers treat their factory workers fairly, and another asking the EPA to control a pesticide chemical, methyl iodide.

Eco-To-Do List

The Nature Conservancy provides a list of things you can add to your to-do list, that will green your house, office and diet. We love their sustainable seafood recipes from star chefs like Dan Barber.

E-waste, Away!

Happy 40th birthday Earth Day, says Earth911.com with this 40 Green Tips & Tricks site, which includes great information about how to recycle your electronics properly, and recycle more than you have before.

Reminders

Don’t have an iPhone or other smart phone where you can access great green apps? Print “reminder” wallet cards with reminders about what to look for in fresh fish, or paper goods, from the Natural Resources Defence Council’s Earth Day pages.

Buy & Trade

The environmentally friendly section of Amazon.com is now live, and includes a program to trade in old stuff for new Amazon.com gift cards. Just be sure to ship green, when you send in your stuff!

Get on the Bus

Once you sign the official Earth Day Climate Petition to “support fair, ambitious, and comprehensive climate legislation”¦”  hitch a free bus ride from the Earth Day Network to attend the Climate Rally on April, 25th from select cities within day-trip-distance from D.C.

Earth Friendly Foodies

Think you’re diet’s eco-logical? Take this Food, Inc. inspired Earth Day quiz at YumSugar to find room for improvement.

Green, Inc.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce set up a special Business Civic Leadership Center page for Earth Day 2010, highlighting what their members are doing to go green. Read through and if you see any signs of greenwash, call “˜em out!

Green IT

The Green IT Economics summit, a major conference of the information technology industry, is taking place appropriately on Earth Day. Tune in to this webcast what thought leaders in tech are worrying about, environmentally speaking, when it comes to servers, software and social media. Check the program guide for what’s going on at Green IT!

Image: Ed Yourdon

The post Bookmark This! Digital Dozen Earth Day Links appeared first on EcoSalon.

Christie’s auction house bets big on the environment.

Green. It means go. It’s the color of money. And, naturally, it’s the cause that’s bringing power players together to save Planet Earth. In response, Christie’s, one of the world’s biggest auction houses, dug deep into its mega-rolodex of artists, celebrities and collectors to produce A Bid to Save the Earth, the first-of-its-kind “Green Auction” in honor of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.

Prior to their celeb-filled “Green Carpet” live auction scheduled for April 22 at Rockefeller Center, a companion silent auction in conjunction with leading online charity benefit auctioneers Charitybuzz, launched April 8. It runs through Thursday, May 6, at ABidtoSavetheEarth.org. Christie’s is waiving its commissions and fees and divvying the proceeds between four top-rated nonprofits: Conservation International, Oceana, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Central Park Conservancy. As the event’s official media partner, NBC Universal is giving the auction airtime during “Earth Week” from April 19-25, as part of their ongoing Green is Universal campaign.

What’s up on the (online) block? For starters, plenty of earth-centric pieces from some of the art world’s biggest players, such as a panoramic photograph of Central Park by Michael Doven and a no-GMO farmscape oil painting by Karen Klimnik alongside works by Olafur Eliasson, Damien Hirst, Keith Tyson, Zeng Fanzhi and Subodh Gupta created exclusively for the auction. “Science and art are the most powerful forces in the world for changing perception and behavior. It’s a game changer to have the world’s most significant artists coming together in support of these leading environmental NGOs,” says arts patron and event co-chair Susan Cohn Rockefeller. “This is the kind of collective action that will help us meet the tremendous challenges our Earth faces.”

Also on offer in the online auction are a slew of once-in-a-lifetime experiences. “People don’t always want more stuff, but they do want experiences and access,” says Toby Usnik, VP and international head of corporate communications for Christie’s. With luxury vacations to Bali and Belize, a walk through Central Park with Candice Bergen, a tennis lesson with John McEnroe, lunch with Vera Wang followed by a shopping spree at her boutique, guitars autographed by Emmylou Harris, Kid Rock and other country music celebrities, a Star Wars collector’s item signed by Natalie Portman, exclusive outfits from Gucci plus tickets to its Milan runway show, a culinary outing with Alice Waters, a day on-set with Hugh Jackman, and many more packages up for auction – all going for tens of thousands – one bid can make a huge difference for the environment.

“Two years ago we tried to do this and the recession happened and it just didn’t seem like the best time, so we set it aside,” says Usnik. “Almost exactly a year ago, we revisited it and felt passionately that if we didn’t do it someone else was going to.”

Sure, Christie’s, like many other auction houses, regularly sends out its auctioneers to preside over other groups’ charity auctions, but it has never organized a wholly charitable endeavor by itself. “For the first time in our 250-year history, we created a charity and got our 501c3 designation, so we’re now able to legally process charity funds,” says Usnik. “Now we have the infrastructure which really lays the foundation for future charity endeavors for things that come up like Haiti and Chile, instead of having an ad hoc response.”

Don’t think you can afford VIP tickets to a Christina Aguilera concert or falconry lessons with Bobby Kennedy? There are lots of ways to get involved. Visit the site and learn how you can donate directly to the organizations, volunteer at a site near you and “Green Your Routine” with tips from eco-guru Elizabeth Rogers. Or, if you’re more fashionably inclined, purchase a special-edition Loomstate sustainable organic cotton tee at Barneys New York and at Loomstate, priced at $40 in honor of Earth Day’s 40th, with a percentage of proceeds going to green causes.

Check back here for Tonic’s coverage of the big event and visit Christie’s LIVE to follow the auction in real time.

Editor’s note: Article by Angela Gaimari. Originally published by our friends at Tonic.com. Tonic is a digital media company and news source dedicated to promoting the good that happens each day around the world. Tonic tells the stories of people and organizations who are working to make a difference, by inspiring good in themselves and others. Be sure to visit them and say hi, and follow Tonic on Twitter, too!

Image: FlyingSinger

The post Going, Going…Green! appeared first on EcoSalon.